RIVERSIDE – As he prepares to announce his re-election plans this week, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger yesterday hit the campaign trail to sell his Nov. 8 special election agenda to a skeptical electorate.

At the first in a series of town hall-style meetings, Schwarzenegger likened his three-part "reform agenda" to past landmark changes made by voters through the initiative process – the Proposition 13 property tax reduction, the "three-strikes" sentencing law, term limits and stem cell research.

"You have taken charge and you have let your voice be heard," he told about 200 people at K&N Engineering, which manufactures automotive air filters. "That is what I'm asking you to do this November. Let your voice be heard. Let us change the system."

Schwarzenegger is expected to use a similar event in San Diego on Friday morning to announce that he plans to run for re-election in 2006.

The timing is seen as a move to generate excitement among Republican activists heading to the California Republican Party convention, which convenes Friday in Anaheim.

The politically coy governor has long signaled that he probably would not disclose his political future, or even give it much thought, until after the special election.

He was apparently persuaded to move up his timetable by business supporters who have given a lukewarm reception to Schwarzenegger's special election, but desperately want a Republican governor to fend off what they regard as bills hostile to business passed by a heavily Democratic Legislature.

Recent public opinion polls have shown that most voters oppose the Nov. 8 special election, which is expected to cost nearly $50 million. The surveys also show that none of the Schwarzenegger-backed initiatives enjoys majority support.

Proposition 74 would make teachers wait longer to become permanent employees. Proposition 76 would tie state spending to a three-year average and allow the governor to make midyear budget cuts if revenues fall behind spending and the Legislature fails to act. Proposition 77 would take the power to draw district boundaries away from the Legislature.

Mike Murphy, Schwarzenegger's chief political adviser, said he was not concerned that the initiatives are lagging in the polls after months of pummeling by public employee unions. Schwarzenegger's campaign is just beginning to make its case and has eight weeks to do so, he said.

"The governor's an expert at peaking at the right time in competitions, and I think he's going to give a lesson to some people about how that's done in this campaign," Murphy said.

Schwarzenegger yesterday defended his decision to call the election to a questioner who complained there have been so many elections that he felt as if he had been "going to the polls almost weekly."

"There's many people that say this is a waste of money to have this election," he said. "I say it is a waste of democracy not to have the election."

Schwarzenegger contended that if voters approve Proposition 76 it would give the state a head start on erasing the $7 billion deficit that is built into the state budget.

"Every single year we wait, we are adding billions and billions of dollars to our deficit," Schwarzenegger said. "If you break your arm today, would you wait for your next physical or would you go to the hospital and get it fixed right now?"